Consumer agency has 2 chiefs
Conflict is brewing, as the outgoing director named a successor and the White House named another.
Who’s the boss? That’s the awkward question after the departing head of a government agency charged with looking after consumer rights appointed a deputy to temporarily fill his spot. The White House then named its own interim leader.
One job, two people — and two different views on how to do it.
The first pick is expected to continue the aggressive policing of banks and other lenders that have angered Republicans. The second, President Donald Trump’s choice of Mick Mulvaney, has called the agency a “joke,” an example of bureaucracy run amok, and is expected to dismantle much of what the agency has done.
So come Monday, who will be leading the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau?
Senior Trump administration officials said Saturday that the law was on their side and they expect no trouble when Trump’s pick for temporary director of the CFPB shows up for work. Departing director Richard Cordray, a Barack Obama appointee long criticized by congressional Republicans as overzealous, had cited a different rule in saying the law was on his side.
In tendering his resignation Friday, Cordray elevated Leandra English, who was the agency’s chief of staff, into the deputy director position. Citing the Dodd-Frank Act that created the CFPB, he said English would become acting director upon his departure.
Cordray’s move was widely seen an attempt to stop Trump from shaping the agency in the months ahead.
The White House cites the Federal Vacancies Reform Act of 1998. Administration officials on Saturday acknowledged that some other laws appear to clash with Vacancies Act, but said that in this case the president’s authority takes precedence.
Who prevails in the legal wrangling is seen as important even though this involves just a temporary posting. Getting a permanent replacement approved by the Senate could take months.
The clashing appointments raise the question: What happens when the two new heads show up and try to sit at the same desk and give orders?
One of the administration officials said Mulvaney was expected to start working Monday and that English was expected to also show up — but as deputy director.